Illustrator: Alberto Vargas

Alberto Vargas

He was the most famous and representative pin-up artist of illustration history.

He was born in 1896 in Arequipa, Peru and studied art in different european cities as Zurich or Geneva.

In 1916 he arrived to the United States and began to work painting portraits for the Ziegfeld Follies where he met his future wife, a showgirl called Anna Mae Clift.

Early he began to work for the Paramount Pictures' art department as well and carried out different jobs for Tatler and Dance magazines, Harper's Bazaar, and Old Gold Cigarettes.

In 1930 he married Anna Mae and four years later he moved to Hollywood with her and there he managed to work for another significant cinema studios such as the Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, or Metro Goldwyn Mayer.There he painted portraits for some important actresses as Betty Grable, Jane Russel, Ann Sheridan, Ava Gardner, Linda Darnell, Marlene Dietrich, Loretta Young or Marilyn Monroe.

In 1939 Vargas became an American citizen and signed a contract with Esquire magazine which lasted until 1946 and it was then when his illustrations became world-famous.

During 50's decade he took part in another important commercial projects and in 1960 he began working for Playboy magazine.

But when his wife died in 1974 Vargas was so sad that he even lost his painting interests. In 1978 he came back to his work and collaborated on an autobiography written by Reid Austin. He also painted some album covers for The Cars and the singer Bernadette Peters.

Finally he died in 1982 because of a stroke at the age of 86.

Vargas girls had idealized proportions and were very pretty and seductive.It is odd that their nails were usually painted red.